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what makes a bass a bass?

#47
With Fenders I think it's the body that makes them stand out from a mile, be it a chepo Squier or an unknown clone, with Jazz Basseses it's also the tone, and those two single-coil pickups which make it all happen. As for the upgrading the parts, try putting a Badass Bridge on the Squier, I'm assuming it'll just be a better Squier then, but then again, why not just buy a Fender. ;)
 
#48
ooo ooo ooo i got a good one (note i only read up to the discussion of picolo basses)

okay, here goes my philisophical thought of the day: the bass is an octave below the guitar and its considered a BASS GUITAR, a picolo bass is just a bass thats ~ an octave (give or take a few steps) higher than a normal bass guitar, so why dont we just call a picolo bass a guitar thats tuned abnormally and has a different number of strings?
 
#50
It has four strings and is fretted. That's the basics of it.
You should use it to lay back and fatten up the sound. If the groove is terrific and nobody notices you're there, you have probably done a good job.
 
#52
Not to open a can of worms or anything, {and to quantify I agree with Brad that once a MAJOR part like a body or neck are replaced with a part not from that manufacturer, it should not be called or considered a "Fender" (for example), and if things like the pups or electronics are changed it should be considered "modified" or "upgraded"} but I was under the impression that the neck was considered to be "the instrument" as in you could have a replacement body made for your "Fender" by whomever you want and still consider it a "Fender" This was the impression I got from reading about people who make a living fixing or modifying peoples instruments. They seemed to feel that they could (and did on many occasions from what I read) craft a completely new body with the body and top woods of their choice, bolt on the customers Paul Reed Smith neck and still consider it a PRS guitar.

Now I disagree with this for anything as large as neck OR body replacements, if the original manufacturer/luthier did not make the replacement, then to me it gets the franken-moniker.
 
#53
seems to me that the difference is what you want it to be; theres no intrinsic difference (as far as i know) between a piccolo bass and a guitar with 2 broken strings... oops, scale length maybe... but you get the point. to put it in another musical context, how do you tell the difference between a tritone, an aug. 4th and a dim 5th? its all (or mostly) semantics i reckon.
 
#54
Octopikiller said:
I think its whatever you buy it as, thats what it is. Like, if you bought a p-bass, its a p-bass. Put in a Jazz neck, its a P-bass witha Jazz neck. Put in Jazz pickups, its ap-bass with a jazz neck and pickups. Thats the way I look at it.
Click to expand...

so what if you replace the body with a jazz body? do you then have a precision with a jazz body, neck and p/ups? ;)
 
#55
the great one said:
If someone notices when you're playing it, you haven't a bass. But if no one takes notice when you play, then it is a bass.:cool:
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this couldn't be more true. If no one notices u playing a bass its definatly a bass and ur playing it well. If u play a bass and then some one notices u, a) ur a bass player out of key, or time or not tuned properly, or b) ur probably one of thoses guitarists who plays bass coz thier friends band needed a bass player
 
#56
velvetkevorkian said:
seems to me that the difference is what you want it to be; theres no intrinsic difference (as far as i know) between a piccolo bass and a guitar with 2 broken strings... oops, scale length maybe... but you get the point. to put it in another musical context, how do you tell the difference between a tritone, an aug. 4th and a dim 5th? its all (or mostly) semantics i reckon.
Click to expand...

in the context of the key u r playing in. Its like E# maj its really just F
 
#60
What makes a bass a bass besides having larger strings producing a deeper tone is the mindset of the person playing the bass. A bass is NOT a guitar and is NOT played the same. A bass is like into a bass drum or a tuba and provides the foundation of the band and the song. We ARE different than guitar players. And, I am PROUD to be a "lowly" bass player.
 

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